What are you currently reading ?

[hammurabi70]

Thought that was really interesting.....Especially the bit about Eyam....A village in the Peak district. They basically locked themselves off from the outside world, once the plague reached them.....So they wouldn't spread the contagion any further.....Particularly selfless action.

Did the BBC not do a drama on this back in the 1970s or 1980s?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Certainly has been on TV cant remember when though

[Techno II]

More than likely.

It was just interesting to see how the bubonic plague (Though we'd HOPEFULLY be better able to cope with that now,) had so many parallels to the current situation.

'Social distancing'......Don't spread your lice onto me....You Oik !...Though, then, they didn't realise human lice and fleas were the main transmitters....Not rats and their fleas.

Cheers - Phil.

[Ithoriel]

Just finished  "WARFARE IN NEOLITHIC EUROPE: An Archaeological and Anthropological Analysis." A well laid out exploration of the possible evidence for Neolithic warfare. The key word being "possible." Much of it can be equally well explained as murder, accident, domestic violence and the Neolithic equivalent of a particularly lethal scuffle in whatever passed for a pub car park in those days. Even Tollense has been downgraded from a battle to a Neolithic heist lately.

Next up, a change of pace, the Cortex Prime RPG hardback rulebook. Acquired through a Kickstarter I backed several years ago and now finally delivered!

[kipt]

Finished "The Approaching Fury: Voices of the Storm, 1820-1861; The Coming Of The Civil War Told From The Viewpoints Of Thirteen
Principal Players In The Drama" by Stephen B. Oates.

Very engaging as the author writes in the first person for the different players: Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Nat Turner, William Lloyd Garrison, John C. Calhoun, Frederick Douglas, Harriet Beecher Stowe, George Fitzhugh, Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown, Jefferson Davis and Mary Boykin Chestnut.   He takes their writings and various reports about them and really breathes life into the subject.

I have ordered the second book, "The Whirlwind of Civil War: Voices of the Storm, 1861-1865".

[kipt]

Started on a series of Civil War novels, "Faded Coat of Blue" by Owen Parry.  The author does a great job of setting the times and locations.

The "hero" of the series is a Welshman who emigrated to the US after serving with the east India Company where he was a sergeant.  He did not intend to get in the war but took pity on local recruits and tried to instill some military bearing in them.  Well, he was elected captain of the company and ends up at First Bull Run where he is wounded and almost loses a leg.

So he now has a limp but is now working on procuring supplies for the troops.  He is very industrious (and religious) and McClellan picks him to look into the death of a young abolitionist officer.  So the series becomes one of solving various murders and insurrections.  But Lincoln promotes him to Major.

So off we go into 6 or 7 books; light reading and quick, but well done.

[steve_holmes_11]

I'm reviewing some ancients rulesets that have lain neglected for a while.
A sort of last effort to find something to inspire me.

* Sword and Spear - read.
* Basic Impetus II - In progress.
* To the Strongest - next up.

[kipt]

And finished number two of the ACW series, "Shadows of Glory" by Owen Parry.

In this adventure Major Abel Jones goes to upstate New York, working for Mr Seward of Lincoln's cabinet. He is to investigate the rumors of an Irish rebellion.

Turns out not true but there are deeper forces at large , which of course are foiled by our budding detective. A fast read and entertaining.

[kipt]

Finished a strange little book (to mt mind). " The Japanese Art of War: Understanding the Culture of strategy" by Thomas Cleary.

Not sure what I expected but this was more Zen, Buddha, Taoist, Shinto and some Bushido. More like a religious tract. One part was on The Thirty Six Strategies, but not very enlightening.

Cleanse your mind until you know nothing (meaning I guess that you practice so much all becomes second nature and you can operate without hesitation).

As we used to say, strange, weird and different ( at least for me).

[kipt]

Finished number three in the Owen Parry ACW series, "Call Each RiverJordan". In this he reports to Grant just as Shiloh starts, where he gets into the first day fight. After it is to solve the mystery of 40 murdered Blacks. He carries a flag of truce to the Confederate lines but gets taken by an ambush prior. He meets Beauregard and then into the mystery.

Read in a day; quick and interesting.

[steve_holmes_11]

Finished Basic Impetus, and have gone off the idea of a Sword and Spear and Impetus mashup.

Raced through "Where are the customers' yachts? or a good hard look at Wall Street." by Fred Schwed.

Rather amusing.

[hammurabi70]

Finished Basic Impetus, and have gone off the idea of a Sword and Spear and Impetus mashup.

Raced through "Where are the customers' yachts? or a good hard look at Wall Street." by Fred Schwed.

Rather amusing.

The difficulty is that it is 'our money' and 'our economy'.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ybrwYCxbOBQ

[kipt]

Finished a long one, "Wellington: The Path Yo Victory 1769 - 1814" by Rory Muir. This is volume one of an absolutely outstanding life of Wellington. The research is awesome. The bibliography alone is from pages675 to 711 of very small print. This includes 7 pages of narrative where he describes his sources.

From Wellington's birth to 1814 as noted in the title. Now on to volume two.

[Leman]

Currently revising the Peter Pig Square Bashing rules, plus the Walter Schnaffs supplement, for a bit of FPW 10mm action.

Andy

[kipt]

Finished number 4 of the Owen Parry ACW series, "Honor's Kingdom". Out hero, Major Abel Jones, has been sent to England to discover the whereabouts of a warship the British are supposedly building for the Confederates.

Lots of murder and mystery and old acquaintances from his days in India (not friendly)..

A lot of fun.

Owen Parry is the pen name of Ralph Peters who wrote "Red Army" as well as numerous others.